[ Transcript Available ] Integrating UX into an Agile workflow has historically been a bit of a challenge. This could be due to a general lack of communication with the development team, or not feeling like the proper time or value is given to UX within the organization. Through her research, Aviva Rosenstein discovered that many problems people were having are commonplace. Additionally, she found that others had actually already worked out solutions to some of these. In her virtual seminar, Making UX Work with Agile Scrum Teams, Aviva discusses the position of UX on Agile teams and some of the problems they face. There were a bunch of great questions from the audience during the live seminar and Aviva joins Adam Churchill to answer some of those in this podcast. How do you manage the change from Waterfall to Agile? Are requirements fairly well defined before the Agile process? If the designers are working sprints ahead, then how much time are they also spending on the current sprint? Where do research and testing fit into the Agile process? Can you give some examples of UX tasks that are estimated? What are some best practices for documenting design in this process? What’s the development team’s role in UX design? How do you handle technology limits in UX design? Are there UX success measures for new products? Can a dedicated UX design team work successfully with product development teams in this scrum environment? Recorded: September, 2014 [ Subscribe to our podcast via ?This link will launch the iTunes application.] [ Subscribe with other podcast applications.] Full Transcript. Adam Churchill: Welcome,...

Mike Monteiro’s contributions to UX design are wide and varied. His first book, Design is a Job inspired us in 2011, and his talk “How Designers Destroyed the World” called us to action. Now, we’re very excited to present an excerpt from his new book, You’re My Favorite Client. A few years ago, I made plans with a friend for breakfast. She was late. When she finally got there, she apologized, saying she’d been cleaning up for the housecleaner. “Why in the world would you clean up for a housecleaner?!?” I asked. “So she can actually clean, you idiot.” This made no sense to me, but I let it go. Otherwise, we would’ve argued about it for hours. About a year later, I got busy enough with work that my house looked like it could star in an episode of Hoarders, so I hired a cleaner. After a few visits, I found myself cleaning up piles and random junk so that she could get to the stuff I actually wanted her to get to. I called my friend and said, “I get why you had to clean up for the cleaner now.” “I told you you were an idiot.” (My friends are great.) The moral of this story is you can’t drop a designer into your environment and expect them to succeed. You’ve got to clearly lay out your expectations, but you also have to set the stage so your designers come in and get to the stuff you need them to do. INTRODUCING A NEW DISCIPLINE TO YOUR WORKPLACE Let’s assume you don’t have a designer on staff....

[ Transcript Available ] The concept of strategy can be fuzzy at best. And the word strategy tends to hold a different meaning depending on who you’re talking to. Jim Kalbach says that strategy needs to show causality. He defines it as a hypothesis of a desired position, and a belief about how you’re going to succeed and overcome challenges. In his virtual seminar, Defining a UX Design Strategy, Jim details the elements of strategy. He shares this in the form of his UX Strategy Blueprint a tool he uses to explore and generate strategies in his own work. Jim fielded a lot of questions from the audience during the seminar. He joins Adam Churchill to answer some of those in this podcast. How does UX strategy differ from product strategy? Can this be applied at the product level or is this just a byproduct of the process? Can UX designers become strategists? What does “upward alignment” mean in the strategy hierarchy? Is UX strategy independent of business of product strategy? Recorded: September, 2014 [ Subscribe to our podcast via ?This link will launch the iTunes application.] [ Subscribe with other podcast applications.] Full Transcript. Adam Churchill: Welcome everyone to the SpoolCast. Recently, Jim Kalbach presented a fantastic virtual seminar for our audience. It’s called “Defining a UX Design Strategy.” The recording of this seminar along with over 175 other UX seminars are now part of UIE’s “All You Can Learn.” Establishing a realistic strategy is a creative endeavor, based on analysis, and it results in a practical plan. Of course, it can also be a frustrating ambiguous process...

[ Transcript Available ] Product roadmaps are a useful tool for managers and the development they oversee. Usability testing and research informs user experience decisions. Both of these goals, in the end, benefit the users. So why can’t your process contribute to both of these goals? Bruce McCarthy, through his years of experience, has developed a methodology to get the product and UX teams working in concert. Using clickable prototypes and mockups lets the product team prioritize their roadmap and the UX team get early feedback. This creates an environment to inform the design without committing a lot of time and resources to it. With both teams validating their assumptions you can arrive at the right path faster. Bruce received a lot of questions during his seminar, Lean Roadmapping: Where Product Management and UX Meet. He joins Adam Churchill to address some of those in this podcast. How do you handle disagreements on what should be prioritized? Should you have separate road maps for product development and higher level management? When is it ok to use a lower fidelity prototype? How do you find interview participants for your research? What approach do you take to sifting through the data you collect? How can you be confident when showing the design to only a small number of people? How does this process apply to a more mature product versus an MVP? Recorded: July, 2014 [ Subscribe to our podcast via ?This link will launch the iTunes application.] [ Subscribe with other podcast applications.] Full Transcript. Adam Churchill: Welcome, everyone, to the SpoolCast. A few weeks ago, Bruce McCarthy presented a...

[ Transcript Available ] The web is everywhere. It’s on our desks, in our pockets, and on screens of all sizes. The complexity involved with building a website grows with each new device it must support. This cross-platform consistency requirement makes a concrete, static design process unsustainable. As flexible and responsive as the sites we’re building have to be, so too does our process for building them. In his virtual seminar, Responsive Workflows: Because There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect Process, Ben Callahan explains that there is no one way to produce a website. He believes that team managers need create an environment where a fluid process can exist and be nurtured. Ben received many questions from our audience during the live seminar. He joins Adam Churchill to tackle some of those in this podcast. What concerns do organizations have when you present this process? What tools are utilized in responsive workflows? How do you keep the team on the same page? What is a content priority guide? How does business strategy tie into a responsive workflow? Recorded: July, 2014 [ Subscribe to our podcast via ?This link will launch the iTunes application.] [ Subscribe with other podcast applications.] Full Transcript. Adam Churchill: Hey, everyone. Welcome to the SpoolCast. A little while ago, Ben Callahan presented a great virtual seminar for us on responsive workflows. Now, there’s over 175 UX seminars like Ben’s that are part of UIE’s All You Can Learn, if you want to get a hold of this presentation. In today’s podcast, Ben is coming back, and he’s joining us to discuss some of the...

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About Me

Accomplished, self-reliant creative industry ninja for well over a decade, with a solid knowledge and insight to a wide range of web/UX and creative skills.
I have high expectations for the results of my labour. I am confident in my ability to produce, and while I prepare for the worst, I do the work necessary to tilt the odds so that the best will happen.
Lifelong design & media industry geek. Ardent traveller. Relentless optimist. Fanatical gamer.